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Mike Marsh
Mike Marsh (born 21 July 1969 in Liverpool, England) is a retired English footballer and a current first team coach at Liverpool F.C. He played for Liverpool between 1987 to 1993 making a total of 101 appearances, scoring six goals before joining Liverpool's youth setup in May 2009 to take charge of the Under 16s. Two years later he was promoted to the position of Under 18s coach, before first-team manager Brendan Rodgers offered him the opportunity to move to Melwood in August 2012. Liverpool career Marsh was signed by Kenny Dalglish on 21 August 1987 from local side Kirkby Town after being spotted by Liverpool reserve coach Phil Thompson. The 18 year old midfielder failed to make a single appearance in his debut season. He made his debut for Liverpool the following season on 1 March 1989 against Charlton when he came on as a 58th minute replacement for Jan Molby. Marsh was very much in the shadows during his first four seasons at the club, making just six appearances in all competitions. The 1991-92 season however saw his emergence as a first team regular making 52 appearances in total, and playing a big part in Liverpool's 1992 FA Cup run, which they went on to win. This season also saw Marsh score his first goal for the reds; a 29th minute goal against Auxerre on 6 November 1991 in the UEFA Cup 2nd round 2nd leg. Marsh's place as a first team regular was now secured, and he carried this into the 1992-93 season making 41 appearances, 28 of which were in the league. His scoring record also improved in this season, when he scored four goals. Having featured in two of the first five 1993-94 season fixtures, Marsh was suddenly transfered to West Ham along with David Burrows in a swap deal for Julian Dicks on 17 September 1993. Marsh ended his seven seasons at Liverpool having made 101 appearances for Liverpool, scoring six goals. Under 16s coach After his playing career, Marsh embarked upon a career as a coach. He joined the Liverpool coaching staff in July 2009, and worked with Steve Cooper to coach the under 16s. During his time with the under 16s, he oversaw the development of some of Liverpool's brightest youngsters who have begun to impress at higher levels of the Liverpool Academy, such as Jack Dunn and Jordan Lussey. Under 18s coach Mike Marsh took the reins of the under-18s at the start of the 2011-12 Academy Under 18s season after previous under-18s coach Rodolfo Borrell was promoted to the Reserves. One of his first acts as coach was to hand the captaincy- vacated by Conor Coady who had moved up to Reserve level football- to young centre back Joseph Rafferty. He oversaw an impressive campaign, in which his young charges finished a strong third in their League group playing an aesthetically-pleasing brand of attacking football. By the end of the season, Marsh had switched the captaincy to Jordan Lussey, a more familiar face to him from his days as under-16s coach. During this season, he had to contend with disruption to his playing squad as some of his players were called up to play in NextGen Series games. Marsh responded by bringing in a number of players from the younger age groups to play in matches towards the end of the season, giving the likes of the highly-rated Sheyi Ojo and Jerome Sinclair their under-18s debuts. First-team coach On 8 August 2012, new first team manager Brendan Rodgers confirmed that he wished to promote Marsh to Melwood to work as a first team coach. Marsh made the move shortly after, bringing his three-year stint at Kirkby to an end. Rodgers had been impressed by Marsh during 2012-13 pre season when Marsh was taken on Liverpool's tour of the USA, and also pointed out the value of recruiting a man who was both Liverpool-born and an ex-Liverpool player to the backroom staff. On 30 December 2012, Brendan Rodgers was unable to attend Liverpool's League game away to QPR due to illness. Assistant coach Colin Pascoe instead took charge but was suffering illness himself and, on the advice of the medical staff, stayed out of the dressing room, thus it was left to Marsh to deliver the half-time team-talk. On 4 June 2015, it was confirmed that Marsh's expiring contract would not be renewed, and he would be released. Assistant manager Pascoe was also sacked. Honours *FA Cup (1): 1992 Stats Playing Coaching Under 18s External links * Marsh Marsh Marsh